possibly a little more emboldened for a bit.
This unfortunately. I was on the Big Bike Ride for Palestine in London yesterday and the support from Londoners was truly fantastic, even better than on previous occasions. And unsurprisingly particularly in Tower Hamlets where the sounds of cars, vans, buses, blasting their horns was deafening, and people were jumping up and down in the streets whooping, hanging out of windows screaming support, etc
But on the way to the meetup point in Croydon which was only a ten minute bike ride from my place I was abused on two occasions by two different van drivers. It was well aggressive angry stuff.
It was the Palestinian flag attached to the back of my bike which is now presumably associated with anti far-right demonstrations. I have never experienced that level of aggression before despite having ridden back from events on my own across south London.
When I arrived at the meetup point I mentioned it to a female Muslim cycling friend who always wears a hijab and her first reaction was “now you know how we feel”
TBH that’s what motives me – I know that whatever crap I have to deal with it’s nothing compared to what they have to deal with on a day to day basis.